On Tour is a series of video blogs by staff at Vision+Media recording visits to some of the digital and creative businesses in and around the Northwest.
Tony Tickle, Digital and Creative Services Manager at Vision+Media kicks-off the series with a visit to Moo Marketing based outside of Marple.
Moo Marketing Company Profile
We're an online marketing agency, based on the outskirts of Marple. Moo Marketing is a small team - three fulltime staff members – and this means that being adaptable and flexible is a necessity. PPC, SEO and Web Analytics are at the centre of what we provide, in combination with other complimentary services.
Web Analytics plays a crucial role in what we do. We use it to identify opportunities, justify choices, and continually develop our clients’ websites and campaigns. It works; the majority of the incoming business we get comes via personal recommendation.
Our approach is based on honesty and open communication. This is apparent in everything we do; we’ll inform clients as to the best course of action for them even if it means reducing the amount they’re paying us. We pride ourselves on working with clients instead of for them, and a large amount of the work we do for our clients comes from understanding their needs instead of concentrating solely on what we can sell them. It’s not a fast-growth business model, but it is a sustainable, ethical and effective one.
What are the benefits of not being ‘Inner City’?
It’s peaceful out here, and clients enjoy visiting us. We’ve got good links to the motorway, and we’re not far from the local train station; that means we’re twenty minutes away from the centre of Manchester, which in turn means that we’re only two-and-a-bit hours away from London. At the moment we feel that being out in the countryside reflects our business ethos more than working in the city would. And it’s always nice to be able to have meetings out in the sunshine when the mood takes us.
Where do you see your business in the next 2 years?
We’re going to continue to expand our expertise in Web Analytics. It’s at the core of everything we do in terms of PPC and SEO, and we foresee it becoming more and more important. We intend to build a small but highly skilled core team; we don’t have any particular targets for expansion, but we’re eager to do it as our client base expands. We’re very confident about client retention, and are excited about what we can achieve for our existing clients in two years. It’ll be interesting see what changes we’ve achieved for their businesses by 2012.
What do you see as the biggest disruptor that may affect your business?
Difficulties recruiting quality staff. Although we aren’t looking to expand immediately, it’s going to happen at some point. We want to take on people who are into what we do and who are good at what they do. There’s a wealth of talent around the North West, but there are a lot of other agencies vying for that talent.
What single ‘thing’ could improve your business?
Access to training. As a small team we need to be able to cover a wide variety of services at once, and with training we could both consolidate and diversify. Providing training for new employees is important, as is the development of skills and knowledge within our existing workforce. “Continual improvement” is a buzzword around Moo HQ – it’s what we achieve for our clients – and we see training and professional development as an integral part of that.
Do you see MediaCityUK making an impact on your business?
Yes, for a variety of reasons. We’re sure that it’ll bring an increased awareness of the creative and digital industries in Manchester, both nationally and internationally. That can only be a good thing. But we’re interested to see if it causes a skill drain, with people moving from companies around the North West into new roles at Media City. Of course, hopefully the opposite will happen, with an influx of talent making the industry in the area even stronger than it is now. On a more specific note, we’re very interested in the potential for the marketing of services that are peripheral to Media City. One of our clients is an SFX company, and the opening of Media City can only be good news for them. Ditto other suppliers, employment agencies, and the like.
www.moomarketing.co.uk